Into the Black

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, orbiting Thraki, Eye of Despair)

“Situation report!”

The staff officers did not even flinch as I demanded a report the instant I stepped onto the flag bridge with Raven at my heels, both of us still wearing our armor. I’d come directly from the Raven, once she was docked and shut down, but that was still enough time for them to expect me, and be ready. That, and there was an advantage to crewing your warships with those taken from other militaries.

“Admiral, after the discovery in the basement of the government center, we ran a planet-wide scan and discovered eight thousand structures which appear to be giving off the radiation that is causing the ‘bubble’, and, by extension, the soul sheering effect. Fortunately, many of the obelisks are in the open, so we can easily scan them, now that we know what we’re looking for. Unfortunately, it appears that whatever is going on here is only just starting.”

THAT got my attention right quick. “What do you mean, it is just starting? They’re throwing off enough radiation to burn people’s souls away, and hold back Hellspace, even though we’re literally in the Eye of Despair!”

“As you say, sir, but, now that we know what to look for, we can tell that radiation levels are slowly rising. In addition, the structures themselves appear to be rising, as well. We’ve been comparing readings on one of the obelisks in the open, and, in the past hour it has ‘grown’ a full forty centimeters, and the speed that it is rising is only increasing. We’ve seen similar readings from the other structures, as well.”

I nodded slowly. “So, something was waiting under the surface of Thraki, buried for who knows how long, and it woke up only recently. According to the survivor we found, the initial stages of the Burning were not all at once. Things got progressively worse over time.”

I checked the map of the surface, searching for one point in particular. “Yes, see, here is where the last holdout community still standing was. Other than our survivor, who must have something special in her genetic makeup that allowed her to survive, that was where the last living Ihm were on the planet. And look!”

The officer nodded as he saw what I was pointing at. “Yes, sir. The settlement appears to be almost perfectly in the center of three obelisks. If the radiation spread over time, then it stands to reason that they would have been one of the last spots affected. But, once they were affected, they would have had all three hitting them.”

“Which correlates with the information we have from the ground, where the settlement went out very quickly once the Burning started. Actually, if we assume that the radiation is the cause for the Burning, then we can see why most of the Perfected were the first victims. Not only did they have a deeper connection to Hellspace, but if they were in the Government Center, then they would have literally been right on top of one of these things when they turned on!”

“Serves the crazy bastards right.”

I chuckled, but then got serious again. “Oh, for sure. Unfortunately, there were a lot of innocents caught up in this, as there always are. Collateral damage is a hell of a phrase.”

That sobered the officer up. “As you say, sir.”

“Well, fortunately, our hands are clean on this, and I’m quite proud of our history of limiting collateral damage wherever possible.” I shook my head. “At any rate, it is clear that there is more going on here than some kind of simple anomaly. At the current rate of acceleration, how long until the structures are fully unearthed?”

“At the current acceleration? Thirty-six hours, at the latest.”

Another officer piped up, “Admiral, Commodore Dakha calling for you from the Hrunting.”

“Put her through.”

Dakha appeared on my screen. “Commodore, I assume if you’re calling, you’ve been going over the sensor reports?”

“Yes, Admiral. You could say that most of those who came with me from the Imperium are shocked at what we’ve seen. You have to understand, Thraki is one of our oldest colonized worlds outside our home system. The earliest colony ships landed almost thirty thousand years ago! And all this time, something like this has been just hiding under our very feet!”

“And there was never any indication of something being off about the planet?”

“Well, I’ve been looking over the old reports. The initial explorers listed the planet as being extremely poor in metals, but that wasn’t an issue due to us already having the technology for asteroid mining. Soil was sterile, but the atmosphere was thick enough that it could be made breathable.”

“So, a terraforming project, then?”

“Yes. They essentially introduced some bacteria to start an ecosystem going, and then introduced plants, before finally bringing the chaoz beasts over, for ranching. The process took about one hundred years, from the first landing to the process being complete, but, since then, we’ve had the perfect agricultural world, capable of feeding a sizeable portion of the Imperium, even today.”

“Then whatever this is must be really ancient. If it was offline, or whatever, only using whatever passive systems to avoid detection…”

“That would explain part of the mystery, yes. But not all. How could a network like this not be noticed? I mean, sure, no one really did any mining or serious digging because there was no reason to, since scans showed no metals. But these obelisks? They should have shown up on mass scans, if nothing else. And why haven’t we seen them ‘talking’ with each other? Transmissions across the planet should be detectable!”

“What if we’re not looking at eight thousand installations? What if we’re looking at only one, all of them connected, and communicating via hard lines? There would be no transmissions to track. And if there is something in the base’s composition that makes it hard to scan, that would give more reason why they were never found.”

“Only one? Then… Oh, my. You mean that all of Thraki could be one ancient alien installation?”

“That’s the only thing that fits with what we’ve seen so far. And it lay dormant, right up until it detected Hellspace closing in on it. So, systems that were offline for long enough that they attracted enough stellar debris for a planet with an atmosphere to grow up around it are coming online. The only question is whether there is anyone to man those systems.”

“With respect, Admiral, I would very much like to not stick around and find out.”

“Agreed. Even if any caretakers are not actively hostile, having any kind of automated defenses that sterilize all sentient life on a planet’s surface is not exactly the marker of someone who is willing to be a good neighbor, and share their toys. Which makes me disinclined to find out what their active weaponry is like.”

Raven looked at me, “So, what do we do?”

“It is time to probe the defenses again. Have Shadowdancer, CJ Parker, Heartbreak Ridge, and the Talon of Wrathion all go and take a peek outside the bubble. Full stealth, as much as that can be managed in Hellspace. When we see what is going on, we’ll decide where to make our break.”

“What about the Armadas?”

“We have a better chance against the Ihm Armada than we do against a ship the size of a planet that tears souls apart just by turning itself on. I don’t like it, but that looks like it is our best option.” I turned to look at the comms officer. “Inform the fleet.”

“Aye, Admiral.”

(Fleet Command Cluster, IAS Shield of Faith, outside the Anomaly, the Godsrealm)

High Warleader Urzo Hakzex leaned back in her chair, going over the latest reports from the fleets under her command. The Black Stars had been chased into the Anomaly. She doubted they were dead. They were far too resourceful to be dead, despite the fact they had not yet emerged from the Anomaly.

But time meant little in the Godsrealm. It was well known in the Armada that the flow of time was not consistent in this place. Some few people had the power to calm the Godsrealm before them, either through skill or through clarity of purpose, but even they could not make the flow of time run smooth.

Worse still was the nature of the Anomaly. It was impossible to see in or out of the Anomaly. They were, quite literally, on different planes of existence. Fortunately, the Warpsingers that were taught the ways of seeing through the Godsrealm could detect the edge of the Anomaly, despite the fact that no sensor could perceive it. With that, the Armadas could encircle the Anomaly, and keep watch upon it.

Spreading out like that ensured that, if the Heretics pushed through all in one spot, that they would certainly be able to break out of the anomaly. However, they would not be able to do so unnoticed, which meant that they could be tracked, and hunted down. If they were unseen, they could escape. If they were spotted, they would die.

Most of her forces she kept between the Anomaly and the two places that the Heretics might be able to find a way to escape. The Eye of God was closest, but the Black Stars had to know she would guard it. The other way lay towards the core, and the Feral Ones. They had worked with the Black Stars before, so she knew that they could be convinced to assist the Black Stars again. That was unacceptable, naturally.

“High Warleader! We have movement from the barrier!”

“Well, what is it?”

“Four ripples in the event horizon, Warleader. Each the size of one of the Assassin-class ships that the Heretics use. They are not together.”

“Track them!”

Hakzez looked at the screen. Four ships, emerging on four different paths. Praise the Goddess and her champion the Imperatrix, but the Godsrealm made it impossible for the ships to be invisible, as they were in realspace. They couldn’t hide as well as they usually did, meaning that, since they saw them from the start, they could track the ships, even as they tried to pretend to be just another speck of the Godsrealm.

Each ship made a slow turn, sweeping sensors over as much of the area as they could, their tracks leading them all back into the Anomaly. Scouts, then. This is what she had been waiting for. The Black Stars were still alive, but were hoping to break out.

Clearly, whatever was inside the Anomaly had not killed the Black Stars, and they were clearly still capable of making shields to guard against the messengers of the Goddess. The fact they were looking to break out, rather than simply moving the Anomaly, meant that either the Anomaly couldn’t be moved, or its power was too great for Black Star. She would find out which when she had her technicians go over the remains of the Black Star ships once the battle was done.

“Have the Armadas break stealth once the enemy scouts go back inside the Anomaly. Tell them to gather at points Rishak and Lintar. Those are still the obvious exit points, and they now believe them to be lightly guarded enough that they can push through. We shall disabuse them of that notion.”

“As you will, Warleader.”

She watched, and waited, as the enemy scouts made their slow, looping path back towards the Anomaly. As soon as they passed beyond the barrier separating the Anomaly from the Godsrealm, her ships began moving, springing to full power for the first time in what might have been days, or merely hours. At any rate, the ships were ready, and now, grouped up into their Armadas once more, they were a potent force that the Black Stars would not be able to take on.

Oh, they would make one of her Armadas bleed, that much was certain. They might even be able to force their way through, without suffering from complete destruction. But they would not be able to do that before the other Armada could come and intercept. The second battle would destroy them utterly, even if the first did not.

And then, with its military wiped out, the Black Stars would no longer be a threat to the Imperium or its goals of Perfecting the universe.

“High Warleader! We’re getting a large mass reading approaching us in Hellspace! Size… it is larger than both the Shield of Faith and Flame of Perfection put together, Mistress!”

“What!? Sensors, get me everything, NOW!”